Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Today we thought we would offer you a first page submission to a middle reader spooky story.
Let us know in the comments if you would read on.

Chapter One: A Case
I Can Sink My Teeth Into

Death found me on a hot June morning in Walt Disney
World’s Tower of Terror.

Minutes before I heard about the vampire in
Transylvania, North Carolina, I pulled the seat belt across my waist and showed
my hands to the bellhop. Behind me buckles snapped shut; arms shot up. The
smiling service attendant in his maroon and gold cap bid us a pleasant stay at
the Hollywood Hotel and retreated into the boiler room. Service doors sealed us
inside, and the elevator yanked us up.

The young boy seated next to me whispered to his mom,
“Why did he make us raise our hands?”

“So when they
snap our picture it looks like we’re having fun.”

“And to prove you’re not holding
anything in your hand,” I offered. “See, if you place a penny on your palm,
like this, when the car drops the coin will—”

“Don’t you dare try that, Grayson!” said the boy’s mom,
glaring at me.

I shoved the penny back in my pocket and muttered,
“Wasn’t suggesting he do it. Just saying that’s why they make you put your
hands up.”

The car stopped on the thirteenth floor. Doors opened. Our elevator car rumbled
down a darkened hallway, and the theme song from the Twilight Zone began playing through headrest speakers. A short ways
in front, Rod Serling magically appeared, warning riders: “You unlock this door
with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension—a dimension of
sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You're moving into a land of
both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You've just crossed over into… (dramatic pause)… the Twilight Zone.”

Buried in my front pocket my smartphone began vibrating.
I pulled it out and quickly read the text message. “Phone Me now. RIGHT NOW! got
killer of a story for you! – Calvin.”

Right, I
thought. Bet it’s just another zombie
fest or supposed house haunting.

See, weeks earlier I’d signed on to be a reporter for
the Cool Ghoul Gazette—an
online website dedicated to exploring ghosts, zombies, werewolves, vampires and
all things supernatural and freaky. We have a huge readership in England, the British
Ghost sightings are huge over there. Anyway, for months my parents had been
after me to get a summer job. Mom thought I needed to start saving for college.
Dad kept saying it was time I did something other than sit around and watch TV,
even though watching TV is my job.

No kidding. Watching television (online, mostly) is my
job. I’m a founding member of TV Crime Watchers, a group of teens that analyzes
and catalogs crime, cop, and detective shows. We have a huge database of
episodes going back almost thirty years, and we use this information to catch
real murderers. At least, when law enforcement officials will let us help. Our
little group has an eighty percent close rate. That means in most cases we can
correctly identify the killer before
the real detectives can. Problem is, TV Crime Watchers doesn’t pay, and making
money is apparently a big deal. Especially for my Mom and Dad. Our family is a
victim of what Dad calls, “the Great Recession.”

I think what he means is that we’re middle class poor.

Before our trip to Disney, he was complaining about how
his pension at the automotive parts company was wiped out in the stock market.
Mom thinks we should sell our home, but according to the real estate company
Mom works for, our house is worth less now than when we bought it. The only way
we could afford the trip to Disney was to drive two days in our ten-year-old
Buick and stay in a three-star motel on the outskirts of Orlando. So yeah,
right now having a job is tops in our family.

“Can’t pay for the good life without a good job,” Dad
keeps reminding me. “And sometimes, you can’t even pay for it, then.”

Dad hoped I’d get a job cutting grass like my cousin
Fred. Fred has like a gazillion customers. He made enough last summer to buy
his own truck—a used Ford Ranger that has over a hundred thousand miles on it
and leaks oil like a Gulf oil well.

But I’m not Fred.

To me the idea of working outside all summer and coming
home sweaty and tired is, well… work. Mom was after me to get a job dog
sitting, but the last thing I wanted to do was to spend my summer picking up
poop in a plastic bag. That’s just gross.

So after our trip to Deadwood Canyon, when I solved the
murder of one of the ghost town’s actors, I landed the job at the Cool Ghoul Gazette, and now my editor
was texting me with a “killer” assignment that I was pretty sure would be a
huge waste of my time because most of the stuff he sends me is.

The elevator car
stopped. Another set of doors opened, this time revealing a bird’s eye view of
Walt Disney World’s Hollywood Studios theme park. Crowds choked Sunset
Boulevard and moved in random directions like energetic ants bent on beating
the other ants to the top of the hill. Children lined up near a pretzel stand
to get Buzz Lightyear’s autograph. Parents milled about in the designated
stroller area.

Our car dropped.

Girls screamed. Kids shrieked. Not me. You couldn’t have
blasted the smile off my face with a power washer.

If the phrase “award-winning author”
still carried any value, it just slipped several notches. My sympathy
to those authors who got published—and won awards—the
old-fashioned way.

Entering an e-book in the so-called
contest costs $70, but with that amazing discount, only $50.

Of course, to be eligible, the file
needs to have been converted into one of various e-book formats (a
service Crafty Possum just happens to offer. (“ePublishing Packages
As Low As $299!” “Learn More About Our Project Management
Services.”)

The “gold medal winner” in each
category receives a passel of stuff connected to Crafty Possum's
services:

Monday, October 29, 2012

I had a great question come up at a recent conference and am curious how readers, mostly, would view it.

Does anyone remember the movie from days way gone by, Look Who’s Talking? A romance that included a baby’s POV. The series ended with the third installment, Look Who’s Talking Now. This last offering included the POVs of the two pets.

And herein lies the question. How do readers feel about internal dialogue from a pet? I didn’t have an answer for her other than it didn’t work well for me, but that’s only one opinion. And therefore, far too subjective.

So…I’m curious. How do you feel, as readers, about an animal’s POV being included in a work of fiction?

Saturday, October 27, 2012

I had an email problem back at the first of the
year and lost some email. I thought I had put a redundancy in place to keep it
from happening again but I was wrong. I just had a re-occurrence and the
redundancy did not work correctly and I lost the last 30 days email.

If anyone has sent me email in the last 30
days, particularly a submission following the ACFW conference, and you have not
received a response (more than an acknowledgement of receipt) it would be best
if you re-sent.

Please accept my apology if this is the case. I
am hopeful that I now have a system in place to prevent it from happening
again.

Friday, October 26, 2012

Are you tired of the same old social media icons that everyone has on their websites and blogs? How about a little variety? Something that goes with your theme or that says you're an author? I thought it would be fun to create a few icon sets that you can use for free and I'm debuting them here on the Hartline Blog. I'll also post them on my company website at www.upontherockpublicist.com. If you want something customized for you specifically, feel free to contact me at jennifer@upontherockpublicist.com.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

We writers are supposed to
avoid cliché's but nothing says it better than this one: TWO HEADS ARE BETTER
THAN ONE.

All writers need friends with the same mental illness. Someone who understands
the way we think and process. And it is even better when one writer friend is
further down the road to success. Someone who has survived the writerly
condition and can take us by the hand and lead us through the dark times. Velda
Brotherton is that to me. She is multi-published in most genre's
and I'm so thankful God gave me this precious friend.

When I get stuck I go to my trusted writing friends and we
brainstorm. Last week Jan Morrill and I drove to Oklahoma City for
an OWFI board meeting. I told her about some problems with my novel rewrites.
She started the "what if" game (where she'd suggest a
"twist" in a scene). It is like a dam of ideas broke and flooded my
mind. Jan brought a freshness that my stagnant brain couldn't stir.

There is value in getting a few, and I mean a few, writing friends together for
an evening of brainstorming. Simply taking turns with projects and helping each
other tear down the one dimensional, predictable, parts of our stories creates
a new excitement about our projects.

Friends J.R.R.Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and Hugo Dyson found value meeting in the
Eagle and Child pub every Thursday. I think they are an excellent example of
the results when creative minds spark in a group.

Are you stuck, stagnate, discouraged? Call three writerly friends and invite
them over. Fix a few snacks and get to work! You'll be glad you did!

This column is open for submissions. If you would like to submit a first page for critique, please email Diana at: diana@hartlineliterary.com. If your first page is approved, Diana will schedule your post and let you know when that will be.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Yesterday at a bookstore coffee shop, I
met a man whose book I was editing.

I'd already sent him my edited version
of the manuscript, and he'd sent me his comments and suggested
revisions. But since he was in town for a convention, he asked if we
could meet. He showed me alternative cover designs from the
publisher, and we discussed those.

But primarily we just got to know each
other. Having worked through 78,000 words about his passion for
ministry, I felt I already knew him. But as we sat in the bookstore,
we got to know each other better. He spoke of having taken
cross-country road trips with his wife and twin sons, who are now
thirteen. He said that instead of playing video games in the car, the
boys liked to read.

I spoke of having read Tony Hillerman
stories, set in Arizona and New Mexico, during a trip through those
states. And I casually mentioned that in my minutes in the store
before he arrived, I'd enjoyed seeing on the shelves a few books by
some author friends.

I pointed to the top shelf of the
left-hand section—a book with a bright orange spine that sat
third from the right. I said the author was a former Navy man who
lived in Fort Collins, Colorado. And I started describing some of the
plot elements. Husband-and-wife treasure hunters combed the globe
seeking artifacts associated with Napoleon's time in exile. But those
artifacts, I said, merely contained clues to a hidden cache from the
time of the Greco-Persian wars.

“That sounds like the kind of story
my boys would like,” my client said. “They like stories that
involve travel and history.”

After our meeting he walked to the
checkout counter with a copy of my other friend's book.

Even in an age where most promotional
eggs go into the basket of social media, there's still a place for an
old-fashioned, word-of-mouth recommendation. (I'm not sure if there's
an app for that.)

Monday, October 22, 2012

Just read a wonderful blog that emphasized getting to know your main character right away, creating empathy with him/her. A couple years ago I was told I had to lose my prologue on a suspense novel because the reader didn't have enough feeling for the main character soon enough, and the critique was spot on. I dropped the prologue and the story came alive much sooner as we learned enough about the main character to care about her.THAT SAID. How do we know when a prologue is necessary to set up a story or when it is simply taking up space because we, as writers, like what we're saying?I think immediately of Mary Higgins Clark who often sets up the entire story through a heart-pounding prologue, which may or may not have anything to do with the main character. But she is successful in that the entire story hinges on what happens to someone in the prologue. Do you have an outstanding example of how a prologue intrigued you enough to have a read? Is it absolutely necessary to have the main character in the opening chapter of the book? On another note, does it make a difference in the genre you are reading? I can see romance needing the main characters right away, but what about suspense, thrillers, or a blend of suspense and romance--thriller and romance. What do you like to see?How about a book that hooked you right away without there being even a mention of the main character in the opening?

Friday, October 19, 2012

You've seen other book promotion campaigns where authors are launching their books utilizing contests and giveaways through Facebook parties, Twitter contests, photos of readers showing book covers, Pinterest story boards depicting what the story is about or the story behind a book's creation. Now there is Doodle.ly, a social-drawing app or social-sketchpad. It's a free website and Ipad app that you can download.

Doodle.ly is creating quite a stir with the backing of Park Street Ventures, including several sports teams who have agreed to use the app, such as The New Jersey Devils. Fans were given the opportunity to doodle a sketch that would be chosen as a t-shirt design. Fox Home Entertainment is using it to promote the DVD release of the movie Chronicle. The show, Cake Boss, held a contest for four weeks allowing fans to draw their favorite cake design. The selected winner received a grand prize and their design would become a real cake that would be featured in his bakery.

Your creative juices may already be flowing in how you can use this new app for your upcoming book launch. For fiction, readers may draw their favorite characters or settings and win goodies you give away. For nonfiction, readers may draw other themed images associated with your book's content. You can gather support and momentum for Doodle.ly campaigns by announcing it on Twitter and Facebook where you already have a following.

If you're looking for something new and different from the traditional book reviews and interviews where readers merely leave a comment and a random winner is drawn, this is an idea to think about before it too becomes an old idea.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Soon it will be time to head over to Marshall Texas to East Texas Baptist University for the East Texas Christian Writer's Conference. I've gone to this conference for a number of years and I love it.

Set on the shady, peaceful campus of ETBU it is an economical conference packed with lots of content and excellent presenters. The dates are October 26th and 27th, starting right after lunch on Friday and ending up about 5 pm on Saturday. The keynote speaker Friday evening will be James Watkins speaking on "I have a dream!"

I'm going to be talking about the difference in writing to reach the nonbeliever. Christian readers and nonbelievers look for different things in a book, Christians want a lot of faith content and they want it right from the get-go. But the very thing that they are looking for will cause a non-believer to put the book down. Many who say they are writing a 'crossover book' are actually writing a book that will not have enough faith content to satisfy the Christian publishers but with too much such content for the secular publishers. They end up in the 'no man's land' in between where neither want the book. A true crossover book is written for one market or the other but written in such a way that it manages to cross over to the other.

I'm also going to talk about how to develop a writer's persona. Many people are simply too shy to meet with editors and agents to pitch, or to do promotion or interviews, or the other activities a writer must do to be successful. There is a way to develop a writer's persona and pretty much hide behind it to do what we need to do. Others are about as shy as a chain saw but they are uncomfortable in such writing situations because they don't know how to present themselves as a writer. These are the totally opposite ends of the spectrum, but for both as well as all of the degrees in between, the answer is learning how to determine how we need to present ourselves as a writer and to project ourselves that way.

Finally, my third session will be a "look behind the curtain." I'll be talking about editor and agent pet peeves. Participants will hear a lot of things from a survey that Hartline agent Linda Glaz and I conducted, things that turn an agent or editor off. But there are also peeves that authors have about agents and editors as well, that sword cuts both ways. Those in the class will have the opportunity to unburden themselves with some of the things that bother them as well.

The conference is a short but content-packed event that people are sure to enjoy and sure to feel they really got their money's worth. Hope to see you there.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Thank you for joining us again for this weeks edition of Would You Read On?
Today we are asking you to comment on the opening prologue of a narrative nonfiction title.

PROLOGUE:

"We’ve said
goodbye in so many places, and in so many ways. A cavernous Air Force hangar
built to hold beasts of planes, used to herd my husband off to war. In
countless civilian airports. After the first few times,
passionate embraces in full view of those poor ticket agents just cease to be
embarrassing. Or, you forgo the kissing and give him a quick peck and do the
casual goodbye because it almost feels routine, never mind that after you drop
him off you will flee homeward and hide away, rewriting the narrative of the
next year. Two weeks. Two weeks is what it takes for me to assimilate to my new
normal. To emerge, to coexist with the undercurrent of worry and the
well-meaning but horribly misguided friends and strangers who think what you
really need to hear right then, is their opinion on the war. Really,
thank you but no.

Said goodbye in
more aircraft hangars. A lot of aircraft hangars. Said goodbye when we had six
months to prepare, or two months, or two weeks, or a full year. Said goodbye to
my husband praying it was only temporary. Said goodbye to my best friend at her
funeral. Said goodbye to unborn babies I wanted so badly to live. Said goodbye
to my sweet firstborn girl for a year, pleading with God even as I left that I
wouldn’t have to go.

I say goodbye to
my husband every day in a community where mistakes mean machines fail and
people die. Complicated flying machines that depend on a meticulous symphony of
man and metal. To be fair, it’s a joyful, freewheeling job, the flying. Even
now, when I close my eyes I am soaring upward, so elated, so free. But
the haunt of loss is ever present. The joy tinged a pale gray around the
edges."

Please let us know if you would read on by leaving your comment below.

MEET THE HARTLINE AGENTS

Joyce Hart, Owner and principal agent

Joyce Hart, owner and principal agent of Hartline Literary Agency has been a literary agent for more than a decade. She was formerly the vice president of marketing of an inspirational publishing company and as the president of Hartline Marketing has nearly thirty-two years of successful experience marketing and promoting books. Joyce has been a pioneer in selling high-quality fiction to the inspirational market and has built an excellent rapport with leading inspirational publishers. A member of ACFW, and the National Association of Professional Women, Joyce is a graduate of Open Bible College, Des Moines, IA now merged with Eugene Bible College in Eugene, Oregon. Joyce is based at Hartline Literary's Pittsburgh headquarters.

Diana Flegal, Agent

Diana currently lives in Asheville NC. A Bible College major in Missions and Anthropology, Diana has been a medical missionary to Haiti, a women's speaker and bible study leader. One of her life's highlights has been teaching apologetics to high school students as preparatory for college. Avid reader and intuitive editor, Diana's represents nonfiction and well written fiction. She has a passion for getting great writers published.

Jim Hart, Agent

Jim Hart is looking for authors who can write unique and engaging fictional suspense, romance, women’s fiction, historical fiction and some sci-fi. Jim is also interested in non-fiction regarding church growth, Christian living, and self-help. Keep in mind that non-fiction topics require a certain level of credentials, experience and expertise. The author will need an appropriate platform to present a non-fiction proposal.

Currently Jim is not looking at children’s, young adult or Biblical fiction proposals.

He holds a degree in Production Journalism and worked for twenty years in direct mail advertising before taking a job with an urban social services agency, where he worked for twelve years. All during his professional career, Jim has served with the local church doing youth ministry and music/worship ministry. He is a credentialed minister with the Assemblies of God, and serves part-time as Worship Pastor in his local church in Southwestern Pennsylvania.

Linda Glaz, Agent

Linda is an experienced editor, reviewer and writer, and for a couple of years was a final reader for Wild Rose Press, then for White Rose Publishing and she worked as an editorial assistant for Hartline Agent Terry Burns. She has judged for numerous contests including the Genesis for the American Christian Fiction Writers, as well as the Emily Award for the West Houston Chapter of the Romance Writers of America. She has been on the faculty for Faithwriters.com annual conference, Maranatha, and is slated for numerous others in 2013. Linda understands writers because she's a writer herself with 4 books releasing in 2013.linda@hartlineliterary.comhttp://lindaglaz.blogspot.com/

Andy Scheer, Agent

Andy has a wealth of experience as a publishing professional with over 18 years as the managing editor of Moody Magazine, 8 years as the managing editor for the Christian Writer’s Guild, and as a free-lance writer and editor. He is a frequent instructor at writing conferences around the country. A journalism graduate from Colorado State University, he also attended Denver Seminary. Andy is a consummate professional and will be a great addition to the Hartline team.